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Big First Period Lifts Bulls to 4-1 Series Opening Victory over Peterborough
 Shawn Lalonde had two assists to help the Belleville Bulls defeat the Peterborough Petes 4-1 in game one of their Eastern Conference playoff series Wednesday night at the Yardmen Arena.
Three unanswered first period goals helped pace the Belleville Bulls to a 4-1 victory over the Peterborough Petes in game one of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Wednesday night at the Yardmen Arena. The win is the Bulls seventh in as many games against Peterborough this season and gives them a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series.
Belleville came out flying to begin the game, opening the scoring on the power play six minutes into the first period when Andrew Self tapped a perfect Shawn Lalonde cross-ice pass past Petes goaltender Trevor Cann. P.K. Subban also earned an assist on the goal. The Bulls then went ahead 2-0 eight and a half minutes into the opening frame when Stephen Johnston fired a rebound past Cann after the Petes goaltender had made an outstanding save on the original shot. Keaton Turkiewicz earned the lone assist on what turned out to be the eventual game winning goal. Nigel Williams increased the Bulls lead to 3-0 with six minutes remaining in the period when he took a drop pass from Bryan Cameron and snapped a low, hard shot past Cann from the face-off circle. Lalonde also earned an assist on the goal. Bulls goaltender Mike Murphy was not as busy as Cann during the first period but was strong when called upon to help Belleville take a 3-0 lead after twenty minutes of play. Shots on goal in the first period were 16-7 Belleville.
It was Peterborough who got off to a quick start to the second period, forcing Murphy to make several very good saves to keep the Bulls three goal lead intact. Peterborough was able to get on the scoreboard on the power play with three and a half minutes remaining in the middle frame when Brett Theberge’s missed shot bounced on the end boards and right to Branislav Rehus who was standing alone at the side of the Belleville net. Rehus quickly fired the puck past Murphy to pull Peterborough to within two goals. Despite the strong start to the game, the Bulls were unable to generate much offence during the second period, as shots on goal favoured the Petes 11-8.
The Bulls gave Peterborough a glorious chance to cut into the lead further during the first half of the third period, taking a pair of minor penalties but Murphy and a strong Bulls penalty killing unit held the Petes off the scoreboard. Belleville then seemed to take back control of the game, limiting Peterborough to few quality scoring chances for the remainder of the game. Subban then rounded out the scoring with an unassisted, empty net goal just before time expired in the game. Shots on goal in the third period were 9-8 Belleville and overall favoured the Bulls 33-26.
Murphy played very well in goal for the Bulls, stopping 25 shots to earn his first career OHL playoff victory while Cann made 29 saves in a losing effort for the Petes. Belleville finished the game one for four on the power play while Peterborough converted once in five attempts with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were Lalonde, Murphy, and Self. Game two of the series will be played Thursday night in Peterborough before shifting back to Belleville for game three on Saturday night. Game time on Saturday is 7:15pm at the Yardmen Arena and tickets are available at the Bulls Box Office.
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